Advice to young men and boys: A series of addresses delivered by B. B. Comegys to the pupils of Girard College — John Shaqi
Advice to young men and boys: A series of addresses delivered by B. B. Comegys to the pupils of Girard CollegeComegys, B. B. (Benjamin Bartis)
Religion
Advice to young men and boys: A series of addresses delivered by B. B. Comegys to the pupils of Girard College
Comegys, B. B. (Benjamin Bartis)
Conduct of life; Girard College
Girard’s great ambition was, first, success; and this attained, the
longing of mankind to leave a shining memory merged his purpose in the
establishment of what was to him that fairest of Utopias――the simple
tradition of a citizen. A citizen whose public duties ended not with
the State, and whose benefactions were not limited to the rescue or
advancement of its interests alone, but whose charities broadened
beyond the limits of duty or the boundaries of an individual life, to
stretch over long reaches of the future, enriching thousands of poor
children in his beloved city yet unborn. His life shows clearly why he
worked, as his death showed clearly the fixed object of his labor in
acquisition. While he was forward with an apparent disregard of self,
to expose his life in behalf of others in the midst of pestilence,
to aid the internal improvements of the country, and to promote its
commercial prosperity by all the means within his power, he yet had
more ambitious designs. He wished to hand himself down to immortality
by the only mode that was practicable for a man in his position, and
he accomplished precisely that which was the grand aim of his life. He
wrote his epitaph in those extensive and magnificent blocks and squares
which adorn the streets of his adopted city, in the public works and
eleemosynary establishments of his adopted State, and erected his own
monument and embodied his own principles in a marble-roofed palace.
Yet, splendid as is the structure which stands above his remains, the
most perfect model of architecture in the New World, it yields in
beauty to the moral monument. The benefactor sleeps among the orphan
poor whom his bounty is constantly educating.
“Thus, forever present, unseen but felt, he daily stretches forth
his invisible hands to lead some friendless child from ignorance to
usefulness. And when, in the fullness of time, many homes have been
made happy, many orphans have been fed, clothed and educated, and many
men made useful to their country and themselves, each happy home or
rescued child or useful citizen will be a living monument to perpetuate
the name and embalm the memory of the ‘Mariner and Merchant.’”
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
OF
CITY TRUSTS,
1889.
W. HEYWARD DRAYTON, _President,
Ex-Officio Member of all Standing Committees_.
LOUIS WAGNER, _Vice-President_.
ALEXANDER BIDDLE,
JAMES CAMPBELL,
JOSEPH L. CAVEN,
BENJAMIN B. COMEGYS,
JOHN H. CONVERSE,
WILLIAM L. ELKINS,
WILLIAM B. MANN,
JOHN H. MICHENER,
GEORGE H. STUART,
RICHARD VAUX.
MEMBERS OF THE BOARD “EX OFFICIO:”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account